Submitting Art to Totem
What is a "pose"?
A 'pose', also known as an 'avatar', is the image that appears above your name in the chat. Our default set of poses includes many different species that can be associated with different emotions.
Your pose visually communicates your mood and actions; you can change poses to show that you're angry, or sleepy, or playing the trombone.
Back to top
How can I get my own poses?
You can commission an artist to draw you a pose exactly the way you want (a 'fully custom' pose), or you could draw one yourself. You could try looking for free poses that artists have donated to the community, or trade with another artist. You could buy a 'premade' pose that only needs a few modifications to fit your character.
There are a few standard requirements your pose must meet for it to be usable on Totem, but once you've got one all done, you're ready to upload it.
One thing you should make sure of, though, is to never infringe on someone else's copyright. Read below to find out more about what art theft is.
Back to top
What is art theft?
"Art theft" is another way of saying copyright infringement: when you take the intellectual property of someone
else and claim it as your own or use it without their permission.
Examples of art theft on Totem would be: using a photo that you didn't take as a background for your private room, using a
custom pose that the artist did not give you permission to use, or tracing someone else's work and trying to pass it off as your own.
As soon as you upload something to our site you are taking responsibility for your actions. We have a team of Art Review members who examine each image to make sure it is legal and meets our requirements, and since copyright infringement of any sort is a direct violation of our Terms of Use, should you commit it, you will find yourself banned from our site.
If you're not sure whether or not you should be using a pose or a room please contact the Art Review before uploading.
Back to top
There are some basic requirements to meet for poses...
- File type (.GIF or .PNG)
- Maximum file size of 100 kb
- Your pose must have a transparent background, with no floating pixels.
- Both sides of the pose must be mirrored, so that the left image faces left, and the right image faces right.
- Crop the pose to make sure there is no extra empty space around the pose's exact pixels.
- Appropriate content (sexual, overly-gorey, offensive or other content that violates our Terms of Service is prohibited.)
Beyond these basic requirements, there are some subjective requirements to be aware of (read on.)
Back to top
How big can my pose be?
Poses should be generally proportioned into one of three categories: the small, the medium, and the large. These guides are not exact, because this isn't an exact science. Use them as a general idea. We don't expect every submitted pose to be done in the realist style, but please match your basic proportions at least according to core body size.
To size your anthropomorphic (human-like, or 'were') character, you can either choose to size it closest to its normal size as an animal, or you can size it up to our maximum requirements. The maximum size for any anthro is displayed in the "large" size chart.
Basically: mouse poses need to be smaller than elephant poses.
"Small" includes avatars that are meant to be similar in size to a weasel, bird, lemur, domestic dog, tortoise, domestic cat, coyote, mouse, squirrel monkey, red panda, rabbit, goldfish, porcupine, ocelot, snake, jackal, fox, compsagnathus, etc.
"Medium" includes avatars that are meant to be similar in size to a wolf, tiger, gorilla, antelope, alligator, boar, panda, manatee, dolphin, seal, zebra, goat, deinonychus, etc.
"Large" includes avatars that are meant to be similar in size to a horse, grizzly bear, dragon, whale, tyrannosaurus rex, triceratops, elephant, etc.
Back to top
Do I have to shade my pose?
We don't require shading on your submitted poses: we're not going to count the levels of dark and light tones.
We strongly encourage shading, though, because it helps your pose to look much more integrated with the chat. If you'd like to improve your ability
to shade, try posting in our friendly artwork forum section for helpful critique and motivation, and our Art Review team is always happy to help.
Back to top
Can I have a silly pose?
Otherwise unacceptable poses will sometimes be accepted as joke poses or AFK, such as a rock or
a stuffed animal. 'A.F.K.' stands for "away from keyboard"; it's another way of saying "brb" (be right back.) In
order to be accepted as an AFK pose the letters "AFK" must be visible, and mirrored correctly for both sides. We still won't accept inappropriate content or humanoids.
Back to top
Can poses have props and pets?
Your character can have props, like a banana car or a frying pan, as long as they don't make the pose too large over all. Your prop can be no bigger than roughly twice the size of your character. If you are a "large" animal you will either have to sacrifice the size of your character or the prop in order to fit within the large scale guide.
Pets are allowed, but they must be markedly smaller than the main character of the pose.
Technically, we only allow one main character per pose.
Back to top
What species can I be?
Just about anything you can think of! Totem is a place of self-expression, whether that means you identify with a hawk or a dragon or even a combination of animals in one.
It's easier to explain what you can't be: inanimate objects, plants, and creatures that directly evolved from humans
mythologizing their bodies, such as centaurs, satyrs, sphinxes (with human faces), angels, devils, Frankenstein, The Hulk, etc.
Back to top
Are there requirements for private rooms?
- They must be 1010 wide and 600 tall, in pixels, at 72 dpi.
- File type (.GIF, .JPG, or .PNG)
- Maximum file size of 200 kb.
- No nudity, violence, or otherwise obscene or adult material.
- No images of real live humanoids in the picture frame.
Just like you can upload poses for your own use, you can upload your own private rooms, too. In your own room
you're your own boss and you can control who may come in and who you kick out or block. Once you have an image ready, upload it for review.
Back to top
